My Favorite MJ Poster!
I remember this poster hanging on my wall for years! It was my favorite. One of earliest memories is going to see Michael Jackson perform at the Victory Tour @ the Pontiac Silverdome on August 17, 18, or 19 1984. I was a huge MJ fan and he was my first crush! I had an MJ purse, belt buckle and more Word Up! and Right On! Magazine posters up on my walls than anyone I knew. I lived and breathed MJ and now I know why.
It was and always has been the music. I realized that Off The Wall dropped when I was 3 years old and my father had/has the LP! I grew up dancing the Michael and to this day his music moves me. I am a music lover and since I can remember a nice groove will get my up and moving my feet. Michael Jackson’s music has that quality and its universal, thus is universal fan-base. In spite of or maybe because of his personal struggles, he always inspired me.
I was caught off guard with the news of his death and its taken me a minute to sit down to reflect. The weekend after the announcement I went home to deal with some family business, namely clearing out my childhood home nearly 14 years after my Mother passed away. I also went to the cemetery to visit her grave for the first time in years. So I was in a contemplative mood around death, transition, and moving on. I love MJ, but a huge part of me is relieved that he will now be at peace. To me he has been a tortured soul and it became very apparent when he released Bad in 1987. He looked different, and the MJ of the Thriller era was starting to slip away.
My fanship remains eternal, but as a lover of people and humanitarian, I just hope his soul is finally free. What occurred to me on Thursday June 25th was to “dance, shout & shake my body down to the ground.” I put in all my MJ CD’s, loaded up the IPOD and spent the next day immersed in his music and genius. I danced in his honor and will continue to live, love, and express my craft in honor of him and his contribution to this world.
My heart breaks for his children, because biological or not the love is really and to lose your parent is to have a piece of your heart ripped out. I send them peace, blessings and the knowledge that no matter where his body is, his spirit will always be with you!
As for reports of drug abuse and other vices, he was human and we all fall short, what I know is that MJ shared the core of himself with us and I think we should honor that and only that. I am sad I never took the opportunity to see him perform live before he passed, but I will forever hold that first concert in my heart and I am eternally grateful to my parents for exposing me to MJ at such an early age and for my Dad for taking my sister and I to that concert!
I believe the Memorial is tomorrow, and while I don’t expect anyone to be happy that he no longer with us, I urge us to use the day to celebrate his life, not lament his passing. For each and every one of us please remember, that in the end, tomorrow is not promised, so take your God-given talents and use them to create a life you love and a legacy that will live forever, Michael Jackson Did!
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